


never fall in love he swears

by lunarwaves



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Non-Linear Narrative, Pining, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarwaves/pseuds/lunarwaves
Summary: Because while Katara loves Zuko, she also knows that being his friend is better than nothing at all.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 127
Collections: steambending





	never fall in love he swears

**Author's Note:**

  * For [antarcticas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/gifts).



> for dee. this is revenge for you-know-what and because i love you very much!!!

“Have you ever been in love?” Katara asks.

It’s an ordinary fall day, Zuko’s hands tapping an uncoordinated rhythm on the steering wheel as they sit in traffic, one thumb painted bright pink to match Katara’s own nails.

Unsurprisingly, he laughs. He’s never been one to shy away from sensitive topics but something about love and feelings just makes him regress, refuse to open up or say anything of substance.

“No,” he says, smiling as the light turns green. “And I don’t think I ever will be.”

\--

It almost comes out during a game of truth or dare of all things.

Maybe they’re too old for sleepovers and birthday parties but there are still a group of girls on the floor of Suki’s bedroom, celebrating her 18th year by ingesting unholy amounts of potato chips and laughing so hard their stomachs hurt.

“Okay, okay,” Toph gasps out after they finish listening to Suki prank call a local McDonald’s, one of the few places still open at this hour. “Katara. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” she says easily, knowing it’ll be some silly question like ‘what’s the most questionable thing you’ve ever eaten?’ or ‘how much would I have to pay to get a baby picture of your brother?’

“Do you like anyone?”

Katara hasn’t told anybody about Zuko yet. She doesn’t _want_ to. It’s behavior out of the norm- usually when she likes someone she tells a few close friends. But none of the guys she’d liked before had been Zuko and she’d never longed for more in the way she does now.

She lets her crush sustain her, filling her stomach with butterflies and her lungs with helium, lifting her straight into the stratosphere until she’s brought down by the crushing reality that Zuko will never, ever love her like she loves him.

Every text, smile, arm using her as a headrest is a glowing secret she keeps to herself, easily turning away inquiries about their relationship with a casual, ‘we’re just friends.’

So now, finally faced with having to articulate these thoughts to someone other than herself, she hesitates.

“I pick dare actually,” Katara says instead.

“Oh no you don’t,” Toph replies, eyes glinting with all the evilness her 4’11 body can muster. “So who is it?”

“No one.” Katara cuts her gaze to the side, staring hard at the carpet in an attempt to hide the feelings splashed clearly across her face.

And even though Toph couldn’t see in the physical sense, she was socially intelligent enough to know when something was wrong, forcing a laugh and saying, “if you say so,” before telling her to ask Jin if she wanted to pick truth or dare.

\--

Katara knows a lot of things about Zuko, like:

He acts like he hates his sister but actually loves her very much, in the way he drops everything to go help her if she needs it.

His mom left a long time ago and his dad isn’t the nicest but occasionally he comes to Zuko’s soccer games. Katara met him once, and the first thing she noticed was the sadness in his eyes.

He has a soft spot for his uncle, and his uncle has a soft spot for him. He comes to more of Zuko’s soccer games than his dad.

He likes spicy food and will drown everything in sriracha unless someone stops him but also has a major sweet tooth. When Katara gets birthday cake, she makes sure to scrape off the frosting just for him.

He laughs and smiles a lot more around people he’s comfortable with.

He’s good at math.

He likes green, even though he wears the same battered red Chuck Taylors almost everyday.

And the list goes on and on, every little thing that makes Zuko the wonderful boy he is compressed into handfuls of sunshine and held close to her heart.

\--

It’s not like Katara always liked him.

They were friends first, then best friends, then best friends with silent one-sided pining.

There was no one moment in time when Katara realized she didn’t merely want to be a spectator to Zuko’s love life- it had happened slowly, her feelings creeping up on her until one day he put his arm around her and she realized-

_I like him._

Outwardly, nothing changed between them. They were still Zuko and Katara, Katara and Zuko, two people whose worlds didn’t necessarily revolve around each other but still found contentment in the form of friendship.

But sometimes Katara would have dreams where she’d go on a date with Zuko, wake up empty with longing for something that would never happen and sometimes they would hang out and she would watch Zuko frown at some worksheet and simply _wish._

She doesn’t know how confessing would affect their relationship. Despite his callousness regarding his own feelings, Zuko was always sensitive about those of others, and the last thing Katara wanted to do was drive a wedge between them.

So she stayed silent, maybe not entirely happy but somewhat satisfied with the knowledge that being Zuko’s friend was better than nothing.

\--

“This makes no sense,” Katara proclaims, after spending a good five minutes staring at the calculus problem on the paper in front of her.

It doesn’t help that the spot Suki picked to study today was a coffeeshop- while the gentle conversation and clattering usually helped her focus, now all it did was aggravate her.

Suki frowns at her own page, just as marked up as Katara’s own. “Maybe we should go to one of our houses.”

“I think that would be best,” she sighs, flipping her binder open in relief. The math problems go in their designated spot and as Katara goes to shut it, she hears her name being called.

“Zuko?” she asks, watching him give a dorky little wave before walking away from his own friends, picking up her coffee cup.

Out of her peripheral vision, Katara can see Suki watching the whole interaction, school supplies still spread across the table. But her focus is fully snapped towards Zuko as she watches him squint at the cup.

“Honey sweetener?” he asks and she shrugs.

“I don’t like it bitter,” Katara says. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting coffee. I didn’t know you’d be here too.” He’s still holding her cup, twisting the cardboard one way and another. She silently watches as he finally takes off the lid and peers inside.

“Do you want a sip or something?” Katara finally asks. “Why are you being weird?”

“I’m just looking.” Zuko finally sets it down before speaking again. “I’ll see you later?”

She smiles in response, mirroring his own. “Yeah. Later.”

Katara turns back to her supplies, starting to put them back in her bag with suddenly shaky hands.

“Huh,” Suki says, and Katara determinedly avoids eye contact. “He looked back.”

“Nice.” She stuffs her mechanical pencil into its case before getting up and swinging her bag over a shoulder.

“So I think it’s pretty obvious you like him-” Suki starts.

The lie comes reflexively, days and weeks of lying to herself and others spilling out in a simple, “no I don’t. He’s my friend.”

The right side of Suki’s mouth curls up, in the way it does when she’s trying not to smile. “What I’d give to have a friend like _yours._ ”

That gets her a poorly aimed kick to the knees and she cackles their entire way out of the shop.

Later, after they finish their math assignment in Katara’s room, Suki brings Zuko up again.

“Do you love him?”

Katara’s prepared for the question this time. She knows how to lie properly, maintain eye contact and a normal tone of voice, don’t fidget and stay calm. Usually she’s a bad liar, collateral damage from being open and honest so much of the time but this- this she knows how to cover up. 

“Of course not,” she scoffs. “I would never.”

\--

Zuko’s flopped onto the floor as Katara paints her nails beside him, frowning as she angles the brush just right.

He’s finally been allowed into her room after months of having to hangout in Katara’s living room or kitchen table, although her dad requires a strict open door policy simply because Zuko is a boy, and if he is a boy, he is untrustworthy.

It doesn’t matter that Zuko would never do anything requiring a closed bedroom door.

So that’s how they ended up here, simply basking in each other’s presence because in every friendship there comes a point where silence is not only okay, but comfortable.

“What color?” Zuko finally mumbles, as Katara stretches her hand out in front of her to get a proper look.

“Pink.” She doesn’t expect much after that but almost spills the polish when Zuko’s hand suddenly flops into her lap.

“Do mine too.”

Her mind blanks. “You want me to… paint your nails?”

“We could match. And it would be funny.”

“You’re going to walk around high school with hot pink nails because you think it’s funny,” Katara deadpans, but still picks up his hand and gets ready to paint.

Zuko’s hand is warm and sweetly rough in hers, fingernails boy-blunt and short. She resists the urge to run a thumb along the calluses she knows are there from weight training and the blue veins disappearing into the sleeve of his ratty school hoodie. 

Her hand is suddenly so much shakier than it was before, quivering as she starts on his thumb. 

That’s the only finger she’s able to do before Azula calls, asking for help with one thing or another.

“I have to go now,” he says before Katara walks him to the door. “Thanks for letting me come over. I had fun.”

“Yeah, anytime.” She lets her gaze drop to his one pink fingernail, a stark contrast against his pale skin. “Don’t let it smudge.”

**Author's Note:**

> partially inspired by taylor swift's 'i'd lie'
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/kitasimpshuke)|[tumblr](https://avatar-the-last-jerkbender.tumblr.com/)


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